An Investigation of Mental Health Status Among Medical Staff Following COVID-19 Outbreaks: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) broke out in China. This study was to investigate the situation of mental health status among medical staff following COVID-19. MATERIAL/METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted through structured questionnaires to collect the demographical information of the participating medical staff via WeChat following COVID-19 crisis. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), impact of events scale revised (IES-R), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scale were used to evaluate depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and sleep quality, respectively. 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 597 medical staff’s information was included for the statistical analysis, and found 45.23% of subjects had PTSD symptoms, the mean PSQI score was 6.320±3.587. The results of multivariable analysis implied that medical workers who did not participate in the Hubei aid program (β=4.128; 95% CI, 0.983–7.272; P=0.010) and PTSD symptoms (β=7.212; 95% CI, 4.807–9.616; P<0.001) were associated with a higher tendency to depression. The PSQI score was linearly related to the CES-D score (β=1.125; 95% CI, 0.804–1.445; P<0.001). Subgroup analysis showed that medical workers who did not participate in the Hubei aid program, no traumatic experience before COVID-19 outbreaks, and PTSD symptoms may affect the tendency to depression in females, but not in males. PSQI score was linearly related to the CES-D score both in males and females. CONCLUSIONS: The medical staff with PTSD symptoms and higher PSQI score may have a higher tendency to depression following COVID-19 outbreaks.